Ever since Mary Phelps Jacob invented the first commercially successful brassiere in 1910, women throughout the world have utilized the brassiere as an essential undergarment. Although some argued that a brassiere did not offer as much support (and concealment) as the corset that it replaced, the brassiere's ease of putting on and increased comfort firmly established it as the preferred choice.
As a result of their inherently simple design, brassieres have not changed dramatically since their introduction. The most common improvements have been in the way that a brassiere is closed together and in the adjustability of the straps used to maintain a brassiere in place.
Unfortunately, even though brassieres are made in many sizes and styles to accommodate the multitude of varying breast sizes, there are certain women who are not provided sufficient support by a conventional brassiere. These women mostly comprise those who have large breasts and those whose breasts have begun to sag as a result of age. For many of these women this is more than just an inconvenience, as significant problems, especially those related to a women's back, can arise.
What is needed is a means by which a woman can improve an existing brassiere, even those brassieres specially designed for large and/or sagging breasts. The improvement must be on add-on device, so that a woman can utilize her existing brassieres. The improvement must be easy to use, unobtrusive and comfortable to wear, but-also must provide a significant increase in the lifting and support capabilities of the brassiere with which its utilized.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
U.S. PAT. NO.INVENTORISSUED5,098,330GreenbergMar. 24, 19925,522,892LinJun. 4, 19966,080,037Lee, et alJun. 27, 2000
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,330 discloses a breast enhancement brassiere wherein each of the breast cups has an inner pocket which receives a padding material and an outer pocket which receives a removable elastomeric member. A support wire extends along the lower curved edge of each cup and the upper edge of each cup has a relatively unconstrained open zone. The brassiere, when worn, exerts forces on the wearer's breasts, thereby lifting both breasts upward and inward toward each other.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,892 discloses a breast augmentation device made from flexible rubber, having a breast-shaped front part and a hollow, rounded rear part for covering the breast. The rear part has a plurality of elongated grooves with vent holes and a plurality of elongated ribs, with each elongated groove having at least one end perpendicularly connected to the periphery of the orifice of the hollow, rounded rear part. Each elongated rib also has a center portion and two opposite ends that extend from the center portion and perpendicularly connect to the periphery of the orifice.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,037 discloses a pneumatically adjustable brassiere that re-shapes drooping or small breasts. The brassiere includes conventionally shaped cups that are respectively composed as an integral body, with a first tube made of soft synthetic resin containing a predetermined amount of ceramic material, antibiotics, and deodorizer particles and connected with feed valve. A second tube is separately connected to an air blowing pump. The feed valve includes a valve sheet for intake of air into the valve body with alternately opening inflow holes on the valve body, two highly elastic springs and corrugated air pumps to vibrate up and down according to a wearer's movement so as to automatically supply air to the first air tube. The second tube is able to inflate and deflate from the air blowing pump, thereby controlling the amount of air supplied to the second tube of each brassiere cup.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention is related reference may be made to the remaining patents located in the search:
U.S. PAT. NO.INVENTORISSUED2,826,202StarJan. 20, 19545,347,656Fabritz et alSep. 20, 19945,833,515Shahbazian et alNov. 10, 19986,058,507KlimenkoMay 9, 20006,302,760B1DaiOct. 16, 20016,811,463B2MartzNov. 2, 2004